Jay, I think you can forget about fuel cells. They cost far too much money to manufacture [what with platinum and stuff in them]and need to use methanol or other expensive fuel. They do enable the use of nice electric motors, which are efficient converters of energy to movement and which can be electronically controlled in wonderful ways.
A Fisher and Paykel smart drive motor on each wheel would be a great innovation which would cut costs and improve room for people. No need for a big engine compartment, gearboxes and muck. Come to think of it, I should have a chat with them. Maybe the Segway inventor, Dean Kamen, ould get in on the act too.
A car is an ugly adaptation from the industrial revolution, with cogs, gears, belts, chains, valves, shafts, oil, metal and a LOT of bits and pieces. A veritable Gordian Knot. A beautifully simply, lightweight, low cost, clever electric drive system would be great. The ultimate of course would be linear motors with the car propelled by the road and maybe even superconductively supported by a magnetic field for zero moving parts [other than the passengers].
Maybe fuel cells can be made efficiently enough to take advantage of those possibilities, but I wouldn't bet on it yet. There is simply too much oil, gas, coal and tars waiting to be burned.
I would love to see fuel cell cars with F&P smart drive motors on each wheel. But fuel cost is still important. So is the fuel cell cost.
With a motor on each wheel, and a battery, regenerative braking would be a useful adjunct [albeit a relatively small saving]. ABS emergency brakes would be necessary. If there was an electronics/electrical engineer in the vicinity, they could explain the benefits of such a cunning motor system and how heavy the wheels would need to be, how powerful the motors etc.
Our washing machine seems to have a fair bit of zoom and can really put the brakes on in a hurry from high rpm to zero in a second or so, using inductive resistance - no brake shoes or industrial revolution muck. A motor in each wheel, but a bigger, tougher one than the Smart Drive, should be able to zoom a car up to high speed in a short time.
Mqurice |
